A Place for Everything, Anna Wilson
A Place for Everything, Anna Wilson
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

A Place for Everything

Author: Anna Wilson

Narrator: Rachel Bavidge

Unabridged: 10 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HQ

Published: 07/09/2020


Synopsis

‘Painful, raw and with an honesty that rings clear as a bell’ A searing account of a mother’s late-diagnosis of autism – and its reaching effects on a whole family. ‘[A] vividly told and profoundly affecting memoir’ The Bookseller ‘A brilliant, searing account and I defy anyone not to be gripped by it.’ Sally Magnusson Anna grew up in a house that was loving, even if her mum was ‘a little eccentric’. They knew to keep things clean, to stay quiet, and to look the other way when things started to get ‘a bit much for your mum’. It’s only when her mother reaches her 70s, and Anna has a family of her own, that the cracks really start to appear. More manic. More irrational. More detached from the world. And when her father, the man who has calmed and cajoled her mother through her entire life becomes unwell, the whole world turns upside down. This is a story of a life lived with undiagnosed autism, about the person behind the disorder, those big unspoken family truths, and what it means to care for our parents in their final years.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ainsley on April 18, 2021

Impulse buy from Costco; I thought this book was going to be about the daughter having autism. What it was, was a lengthy description of the author’s life with her (undiagnosed) autistic mom. The story could have been more impactful if told in less length and maybe with more of a storylike feel. I d......more

Goodreads review by Oliver on May 22, 2020

I finished this book in three sittings (a record for me I think!) and it is fair to say that I absolutely loved it. I thought I would enjoy it as a piece of my education about high functioning Autism / Asperger’s, but I didn’t expect to get so wrapped up in the story and the suffering of the author,......more

Goodreads review by Annie on December 12, 2023

Well I have a lot of thoughts about this book and where to start First of all, I was excited to read this book as I thought it would be about the daughter and she would be autistic, but it turns out it is her mother. This really reads better as a carer and the struggles that come from being a careta......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on March 30, 2025

Interesting! Some of the language was a liiiiiil jarring but it was sweet and tender overall......more

Goodreads review by Tracy on October 16, 2021

4.5 stars So heartbreaking. This really resonated with and I appreciated the author being so frank. Having aging parents is so stressful and worrying, and even more so when mental health issues are involved. I wish Anna all the best and thank her for sharing her story.......more


Quotes

‘[A] vividly told and profoundly affecting memoir’ ‘A brilliant, searing account and I defy anyone not to be gripped by it.’ 'I read with my heart in my mouth, gripped by this howl of anguish about loving someone you cannot help. This is both a love story and a horror story; an unforgettable account of a daughter going into battle to try to save her mother and father, and the toll it took. Painful, raw and with an honesty that rings clear as a bell. This is a beautiful book and an important one.' ‘You don’t have to have a connection to autism to find much to – enjoy perhaps isn’t the right word – that you can relate to in this book because it’s largely about the business of caring for your elderly parents when you are a woman who might have a whole shedload of other responsibilities.’ ‘The last decade of life is the new frontier for the diagnosis of autism – brought home to us in this captivating story.’ ‘A very moving read’ ‘In this extraordinary memoir Anna tells the story of what it was like for her and her sister to be raised by a woman struggling with undiagnosed high-functioning autism. This is an important story filled with compassion, and one that I hope will be read by anyone who has endured a difficult relationship with either parent.’ ‘[Anna]’s book is one of the best memoirs I've read in a long time. I loved it. It's raw, honest, gripping . . . and very moving. The book will be helpful for people who have family members with undiagnosed autism.’